


death doesn't discriminate (between the sinners and the saints) ||OLD VERSION||

by sakura_freefall



Category: Among Us (Video Game)
Genre: Angst, Forgiveness, Gen, Heavy Angst, Hurt No Comfort, I've Never Even Played Among Us, Making things right, Murder Mystery, Not The Impostor, Oh Gosh This Is Becoming A Pattern, Platonic Female/Male Relationships, Platonic Relationships, Poor Black, Red Feels Bad, Title Stolen From Hamilton Song, eventual hurt/comfort, ghost au, space, why did i even write this
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-14
Updated: 2020-10-14
Packaged: 2021-03-08 21:27:08
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,204
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27003502
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sakura_freefall/pseuds/sakura_freefall
Summary: Red's being haunted. Normally, this wouldn't be too bad. A surprise, sure, but not too bad.Things are a little more complicated when said ghost is your best friend whom you sentanced to death.
Relationships: Red & Black (Among Us)
Comments: 7
Kudos: 32





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> You thought because of the Hamliza fic that things were gonna be fluffy now??  
> SURPRISE BOIS! THEY AREN'T!!
> 
> I wrote this at 11 PM. Unbeta'ed. I've never played Among Us in my entire life, just as a disclaimer. I probably screwed fifty different things up, but hey. Plot armour.
> 
> Please enjoy this monstrosity of a fic. Again, my brain kind of just spat this out... don't judge. Comments/kudos welcome on the off chance you actually liked this.
> 
> EDIT: So... I was originally planning to include this in my larger Among Us series... but then I realized a MASSIVE plothole, and so I'm going to write a slightly different version of this for the series to avoid that. I'll keep this version up tho, it just doesn't fit quite right with canon.

Red sighs, feeling like all the matter in the ship has decided to descend onto his shoulders. He steps into his personal chamber, which is really just a glorified closet- only about four standard measures long and six SMs wide. There's a metal bed attatched to the wall with a sterile mattress and pressurized blanket, a small wash station with a small, grimy mirror, a few empty shelves, and an uncomfortable chair bolted to the floor. He stands in front of the sink- if you can even call it that- and unscrews his helmet, relishing for a second the feeling of breathing fresh air, or at least as fresh as you can get aboard a space cruiser, instead of stale recycled oxygen from his tank.

He runs his head over his hair, feeling the itch of the regulation buzz cut, admiring for a bit Black's boldness. She always keeps her hair a little longer than the standard and dyes it using spare fluorescent paint.

No. Not keeps. Kept. Because Black's gone, and it's all his fault. 

He remembers in his mind's eye, how two days ago today, he was sitting at the head of a metal table in the main hull, hearing a shaken Cyan reporting that Yellow's dead, murdered by the looks of it, and how he thought he heard someone crawling away through the vents.

"It was Black," Blue immediately accuses. "I... I saw her, in the vents. Said she was doing maintenance checks, but it looked like she had something shiny in her belt- oh gosh, that was a knife, wasn't it?" Brown agreed, saying that he'd also seen Black rush to hide something earlier that morning. 

Orange had recording footage. It was only in monochrome, but the suit was one of the darkest shades of grey. It looked like Black. The evidence all pointed towards Black. Red remembers the sinking feeling in his chest, because of everyone, how on earth could it be Black, his best friend? But he's the crew leader. He can't let emotions get in his way.

"Black, what do you have to say for yourself?" Red asked, his heart feeling like it was about to jump out of his chest.

Black crossed her arms and scowled, adopting her usual defensive manner. "I can't believe this!" she shouted. "I know you guys hate me, but accusing me of murder?! I'd never kill Yellow! Yellow was my friend too! I wasn't even in the area at the time! Let me go!"

"Explain the cam footage," Brown growled.

"I- I don't know! It wasn't me! I swear!" Black was panting, her hands having migrated from her chest to her visor.

"Is that all?" whispered Pink. Pink and Yellow were best friends. "Are we- are we voting now?"

"Yes," sighed Red.

Blue votes first. "Sus," he called. 

Purple shook her head. "This isn't enough proof to go on. Not sus."

Slowly, all the crewmates, minus Red and Black, have casted their votes. Brown, Blue, Orange, Cyan, and Lime had voted sus. Purple, Pink, Green, White, and Tan voted not sus.

It was down to Red. He remembers mulling the evidence over in his mind- Blue's testimony (he knew Blue, the guy couldn't lie to save his life), and Brown's too. And the recording footage. You couldn't argue with recording footage. Also, he hadn't exactly seen her around that day. Red remembers deciding what decision to make. And because he knew that sometimes sacrifices had to be made for the good of the crew, he made it.

"Sus."

"That carries the vote," Blue said. "Get the traitor to the airlock."

"No! No! Red, I swear it wasn't me!" Black's voice shook. "It wasn't me! Please, Red! Please!"

Red heard the hissing of the door mixed with Black's desperate screams. He forced himself to look away as Black was shoved out of the airlock and into oblivion.

"Cyan? You getting readings?" asked Red, trying to keep the pain out of his voice. "What does the tab say?" He gestured to the hot-wired tablet the impostor had left behind, the night before the first murder.

"Hang on a sec-" Cyan fiddled with a button.

And Red heard the words that he knew damned him.

"BLACK WAS NOT THE IMPOSTOR."

Red forces himself back to the present, back to the here and the now. It was over. Black's gone. It's his fault. Red hasn't really thought about what happens when you die- he hasn't ever needed to, although maybe he should, with all the murders and all. He's always just assumed that you disappear. Fade out from existance. But if by some off-chance, Black's still out there, somewhere, she would hate him with all her heart. As she should.

Red blinks, wiping the tears from his eyes before they can fall. He peers up at the grimy square of polished metal, examining his reflection distractedly. That's when he sees it.

He blinks again, because it has to be a trick of the light.

It's Black.

It's faint, and dim, but sure enough, in the mirror, Black stands behind him, about an SM back. She's not the same, either. She's in her full suit and helmet, except for one large crack in her visor. Through it, Red can see one of her eyes, dark and cold and empty, with tears spilling out, frozen in time.

"Black?" he asks, shaking.

 _ **Red,**_ says a voice that seems to echo from nowhere and everywhere at once. It doesn't sound angry, or kind, comforting or vengeful, just... flat. Monotone.

"B... Black, is that you?" he whispers a little louder.

_**Yes. It is me. You killed me, Red.** _

Red feels the pain in his chest threaten to swallow him whole. "I..." he trails off, words failing him. "I know there's no worthy explanation. I know. I was just... I was scared. For my crew. And I got... ahead of myself. I... there's nothing to say except... sorry."

**_You were scared for your crew. Was I not your crewmate?_ **

"Yes, yes, of course you were! But I thought... I thought you were the traitor!"

_**You didn't even hear me out. I died alone because of you.** _

It's all too much. Red collapses, feeling the cold of the floor underneath him. "Why... why are you here... why are you haunting me?" He wants it all to go away.

_**Because you are holding me here. I am drawn to you. Believe me, I would not choose this.** _

It hurts. It hurts. It hurts so much, and the room feels like it dropped 10 TMs.

The ghost/hallucination/phantom/whatever keeps talking, louder and louder, still in the same monotone but slightly angrier. _**You took my future, my life, and my reputation. You took everything I was. You want my forgiveness, but you don't deserve it.**_

"I'm so sorry, Black. Listen, what do you need me to do? I'll- I'll do it."

_**There is nothing you can do. I need nothing from you. I am not here by choice. Go to sleep, Red.** _

Red's dreams that night are filled with screams and shattered glass, and tears from crying eyes.

 _ **Red. You're awake.**_ The ghost rouses him, her voice in his mind cold as ice, cold as space. Emotionless.

"Yeah. Yeah, I am."

 _ **Go on. Get up. I...** _for the first time, he thinks he can hear Black stammer. **_I did not mean to be so harsh to you. I'm angry. I should not have frightened you. I don't want you to apologize to me for anything. Now come on. Eat your ration pack._** Red's probably imagining it, probably just wishful thinking, but he thinks he can feel a tepid pressure on his back, stroking him.

He eats his ration pack in silence and goes to his workstation.

Nobody dies that day, thank goodness. He works silently and alone, repairing crossed wires, checking flight scans, adjusting fuel reserves. Sometimes he can tell, although he can't see her, that Black's standing nearby. He does not acknowledge his old work partner, and she does not speak to him.

_**Red, you should eat something. Or at least drink.** _

It's the end of the work day, and he's sitting in his bed when Red hears her again. He sighs, frustrated. He's not hungry or thirsty. He just wants to rest. "Not hungry."

_**Red. Are you all right?** _

He bursts into a fit of harsh laughter. "Am I all right?! Three days ago Yellow was murdered and I sentanced my best friend to death by mistake, and then yesterday I realized that the aformentioned best friend was haunting me and appearing in my mirror and talking in my mind! But yeah, apart from that? Totally all right."

_**I am still here. I do not know exactly where Yellow is, but I know she is safe. I can feel it.** _

"Thanks. I just... I killed you! And you show up again as if almost nothing had happened! That- how- I miss you! I miss you, you stupid crewmate with your stupid painted hair and stupid dark jokes! I miss you and I killed you and I just want you back! Really back!"

_**I am sorry for hurting you. I overreacted.** _

"No, don't be sorry! Don't be sorry, don't blame yourself..." How Black could think this was her fault is beyond him.

 _ **Red, wait. Can you feel this?**_ Right as she says it, Red feels a small spot of warm pressure on the small of his back. It's faint, but there.

"Yeah, I mean, I think? What are you doing?"

_**Can you...** _

And all of a sudden, a burst of warm flowing wind presses against Red's side. It blows against him like it's trying to get closer, and Red carefully leans into the touch.

_**I do not know if I can forgive you yet, but I will stay here.** _

The next day, tragedy strikes again. This time it's Lime. Red feels even worse. Three of his crewmates dead.

Purple saves them all, though, when she catches footage of Brown with a knife while Blue stands guard. Blue. So quick to accuse Black. He should've known. He's glad for Purple, though, and her convincing Orange to switch to the emergency color filters for the camera feed.

_**Do not worry. Lime is safe.** _

"G... good... I guess..."

Blue and Brown are unanimously voted sus. Red's about to throw them out the airlock when Black speaks frantically in his mind.

_**No! Do not do it, Red! Nobody deserves to die like that! Please!** _

"Why... did... did it hurt?" He feels another wave of nausea, realizing just how terrifying it must have been for Black, alone and freezing.

_**Yes. Very. So cold. Please, capture them. Give them to interstellar officials. Prison. But do not kill them.** _

"Oh my stars, Black, what have I done?" he cries after giving the orders to contain the prisoners. "What am I?"

_**You. You are Red. You are cold and quick to judge harshly, but you are also strong, and brave, and selfless. You are yourself.** _

"I'm sorry. Please don't leave me."

_**I will not leave you. We are bound together by something I cannot control. You've done well. You have saved your crewmates.** _

"But not you..."

_**Maybe not. But we all make mistakes. You have done the best you could. Go easy on yourself, Red. I'm still angry, but I understand what you did and why you did it.** _

"Black... I know I don't deserve anything from you. But..." Red throws his arms around an empty space of air in front of him, hoping to show Black how sorry he was, and how much he needed her, not like a lover, but as a friend. Something deeper than a soulmate.

_**Red, you thoughtless brainworm. I am on your left.** _

"B... Black..." he chokes, feeling hope flood through him at the old joke. He musters all his courage before asking shakily, "Do... do you forgive me?"

 _ **I forgive you, Red,**_ comes the silent reply. _**I forgive you.**_


	2. addendum

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> "sus," calls red.
> 
> and black feels something break inside her.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> this seems to be becoming a pattern, doesn't it? finishing a work and then adding an extra chapter a day later?

Space is cold.

The Skeld disappears into a tiny speck of metal, then nothing.

It's cold.

It's cold and she's in free fall.

Her life is over.

She had hopes. A career. A future.

And it all got taken away over a crime she didn't even commit.

She does not cry. She forces herself not to cry. She will not give the universe the satisfaction.

It's getting colder.

It's getting hard to breathe.

Everything hurts.

It's so cold.

She thinks to herself, will anyone remember me?

Did I even matter to them?

Is anyone crying for me?

It doesn't matter. None of it matters.

She's getting dizzy. Must be the lack of oxygen setting in.

A shard of rock strikes her vison, cracking in.

Colder than cold rushes in.

She can't breathe.

It hurts. 

Her eye is burning, and she feels herself crying in spite of herself.

It won't be long now.

She fixes her eyes on the dark space between two bright stars.

At another time, she might've found it beautiful.

Now she's just cold.

Things are going fuzzy.

I was here, she thinks to herself as her mind fades out piece by piece.

I was here...

I was here....

I was...

I...

...


End file.
